InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ In the Eyes of the Beholder ❯ Oh, the Bitter Irony ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is not mine and never will be.

Author's Note: Thanks for the review sarah samurai and the PM, hasso. Even though I didn't get as many as I originally wanted, you guys still motivated me to continue. You both suggested a body switch, but I have another idea that I can't wait to toy with. Hope I don't disappoint!

 

In the Eyesof the Beholder

 

Chapter One: Oh, the Bitter Irony

 

Slowly, Kagome's heavy eyelids opened and a prickling sensation raced through every vein in her small body. Head swimming, she laid there for a few moments more until she felt like she could move without collapsing back to the soft earth beneath her. Kagome gently brushed the curtain of dark hair that obscured her fuzzy vision and massaged her temples.

 

Why did she feel so weird? Last night had been a blur and she struggled to snatch the bits and pieces of memory floating about in her foggy mind. Naraku…The man who had promised to help her gain Inuyasha's love. A thick feeling of foolishness slowly crept up on her an Kagome cursed her idiocy and naiveté. Trusting a complete stranger!? What the hell had she been drinking last night? As much as she tried, she could not ignore the shaken feeling that surged within her very being.

 

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Kagome stared down at the patched, raggedy cloth of her peasant's dress and noticed a small folded sheet of parchment innocently poking its head out of her pocket. She quickly opened it and realized that Naraku had left her with a set of instructions.

 

If you are reading this, most likely it is early morning and you are still feeling a bit weak. But that is a completely normal part of the transaction. If I am correct in assuming, you still have not seen what you look like now. I suggest you find a mirror or a lake before you go gallivanting off to Inuyasha's manor. After you do this, take the western path situated between the two ancient trees at southern end of your village. Follow this until you reach a fork in the path. Turn right and at the next fork, turn left. This path will take you to the manor. Knock on the doors and when interrogated, simply tell them that your name is Kagome, you are a hard worker, and you wish to work as a servant of Inuyasha. Mention not my name. You have until the third month(at the full moon) to gain his love. If not, you will stay this way forever.

 

Blinking and rereading it twice, Kagome made sure she understood every single detail in the letter. If he meant for me to gain Inuyasha's love by the full moon, why did he carve a crescent moon in my skin? she wondered to herself. But there wasn't time for idle thought. Kagome had to prepare herself for the long journey and make sure she wasn't killed by a bloodthirsty youkai on her way. Shuddering at the thought, she remembered to find the nearest body of water or mirror to view her new self in.

But I will probably look the same, Kagome convinced herself, although a voice in the back of her mind seemed to think otherwise. How much `beauty' could I possibly have? Inuyasha is thoroughly convinced that I'm ugly… After about half an hour of diligent walking, Kagome found the small spring that she often bathed in at the outskirts of her village, concealed by dense foliage and small clumps of trees. Kagome closed her eyes and swallowed nervously, realizing her mouth was cotton dry. Her head spun with anxiety as she leaned in over the water, preparing herself. Kagome kept repeating to herself, I will look exactly the same. I will look exactly the same. Confidence rising and mind assured, she opened her eyes and gagged on the loud scream that threatened to shoot up from her throat and out into the open air.

 

Her hair looked the same…so she was right, in that aspect. The inky black tresses still flowed in loose waves about her. But everything else was completely different. Huge, swollen red pimples decimated her smooth, clear complexion. Eyes that had been a proud, stormy blue had turned into lifeless, sooty black pools. Her small nose had been transformed into a huge, beaklike mountain that jutted out from her face. Once full lips were now thin and almost nonexistent, making it seem like a permanent frown was etched onto her face. Thick, bushy brows threatened to mesh together and form and unsightly unibrow above her misty eyes. Large ears jutted out from the side of her head, resembling an unfurled butterfly's wings.

 

“I-I'm h-h-hideous,” she managed to splutter before burying her face in her hands. Loud enormous sobs managed to rack her small frame as huge crocodile tears streamed down her red, pimpled face. Hideous, ugly, disgusting, vile, repulsive kept repeating themselves like a never-ending mantra in her pounding head. Every seeming ounce of attractiveness had been sucked right from her body by Naraku's cold, unforgiving hands.

 

Why the hell had she agreed to something as eccentric as this!? Why!? she kept asking herself over and over. Why…I'm a monster…a monster. She had been a fool to accept Naraku's twisted terms. She had been a fool to think that this of all things would bring her closer to Inuyasha…And then Kagome remembered the biting comment that she had made to Inuyasha yesterday:

 

“If by beautiful, you mean ogre-like, then, well, what can I say? You definitely aren't shallow!”

 

Oh gods…why had she uttered those words…Those horrible, dreadful words! Now she looked like an ogre and if she knew Inuyasha, she knew she had wounded his pride and he would do anything and everything in his power to avoid unattractive girls…An unattractive girl like me, she mused forlornly. Why do I just have to keep digging a deeper and deeper hole for myself!? Collapsing on the ground, she cried, sobbed, howled, and moaned for almost an hour until all of the angst within her seemed to have poured out along with the tears.

 

Sniffing and rubbing the wetness from her eyes and face, Kagome blinked into the crisp sunlight. It was almost time for everyone to awaken and soon the village would be bustling with life, noise, and vigor. She had to leave by then if she didn't want to risk being seen. Sitting here and crying would not solve her problems. The only thing that she could do was pick herself up and try to figure out a way to defeat this obstacle in her path. And the only way to do that was to go to Inuyasha's manor and begin her new job as his servant…Attempting to gain Inuyasha's love would be about one hundred times harder at the least now.

 

Kagome smiled bitterly to herself as she quickly made her way back down to the village to pack her things. After her horrible transformation, it seemed like the very person she had been so desperate to be with and give up anything for, was now the very person she wanted to be the farthest from. How ironic, she thought sadly, shaking her wild onyx mane. At this rate, I am going to stay this way forever.